Thursday, March 26, 2009

I've never been down with the tradition of covering soccer jerseys with ugly corporate logos. It just seems sad and cheezy that clubs feel the need to use their players as billboards for multi-million-dollar companies.

So I find it quite hilarious these days to see AIG -- the most reviled corporation in the history of modern capitalism -- adorning the jerseys of Manchester United. Now it turns out that the insurance conglomerate still owes the English club some 14 million pounds on the naming rights deal, which runs through next season. Naturally some U.S. politicians aren't too excited about making good on this payment considering that AIG has now been bailed out to the tune of $150 billion (or some such ludicrous number) in taxpayer money. The Guardian ran a story on this today:

Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat representative from Arizona, said of AIG: "Paying excessive bonuses to executives with taxpayer funds was unacceptable and it is equally unacceptable for US taxpayers' money to go to support an English soccer club."

Perhaps AIG's next shirt-sponsor deal will be with an MLS club? Is it any coincidence that Manchester's current slide coincided with the disclosure of AIG's obscene employee bonus payments?